Valve-heading die



June 3 1924.

G. R. RICH VALVE HEADING DIE Filed June 1923 (JEN/612607; fizoye 72 72 1071,

his

Patented June 3, 1924.

STATES PATENT OFFlCE,

GEORGE R. RICH, OF BATTLE CREE-K, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO RICH STEELPRODUCTS COMPANY, OF VERNON, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION T5CALI- FORNIA.

VALVE-HEADING DIE.

Application filed June 27,1923.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. RICH, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Battle Creek, Calhoun County, Michigan, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Valve-Heading Dies, of

which the following is declared to be a full,

clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to valve heading dies and its principal object isto provide a rockably supported, head forming die of novel constructionby which the heads of poppet valves may be formed with greater precisionand in less time than is ordinarily taken in forming the same kind ofvalve head. In the past it has been customary to employ a die forforming the heads of pop pet valves, which is capable of being turned inits support so that the operator, upon observing that the metal whichforms the head tends to flow in one'direction when being hammered, turnsthe die to overcome this difliculty, but considerable time is consumedin the operation of frequently turning the die during the hammeringprocess and production is thereby slowed up. In accordance with thepresent invention, the die is arrangedso that it may be rotated ifdesired, but it is loosely and rockably contained in a support so as toenable it to be tilted at the will of theoperator so as to direct theflow of metal. The tilting may be done instantly upon observing that themetal tends to flow in any particular direction, and a great deal oftime and labor is thereby saved, in fact enabling me to pro duce morethan double the number of pop pet valve bodies than with the oldprocesses.

With these and other objects and advantages in View, this inventionconsists in a rookable head forming die. It further con sists in theseveral novel features hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inWhich:

Fig. 1 is a fragmental side view illustrating, in outline, a powerhammer such as is commonly employed in forming the heads of poppetvalves and showing a simple embodiment of my present invention appliedthereto; Fig. 2 is a detail, central, vertical section through the dieandanvil; Fig. 3 is a detail, central, vertical section through the dieand anvil showing the die tilted, the section through the die beingtaken at Serial No. 647,979.

right angles to that shown in Fig. 9., and Fig. 4 is a plan of the dieand anvil.

Referring to Fig. 1, the reference character A, designates a powerhammer which may be of any of the common and well known forms of powerhammers used in the metal working art for hammering metal into forms.The reference character a, designates the hammer arm, and a the baseupon which the anvil 5 is supported and se cured in the usual manner. Bdesignates the valve heading die, which holds the stock from which thevalve is made, and C designates the upper or hammer die which is securedto the hammer arm a, and cooperates With the die B in the formation ofthe valve head. The anvil 5 is formed with a cylindrical socket 6 whichextends down from its upper face and the bottom 7 of said socket isconcave, the radius of the curve of the concavity being quite long, saytwenty-five inches or thereabouts. Leading down through the bottom ofthe anvil socket is a hole 8 which opens through the bottom of theanvil.

The die B rests upon the concave seat or bottom 7 and its lower end face9 is made convex in form and conforms generally to the concave surfaceof the seat or bottom 7 of the anvil. The die B is cylindrical in formand its diameter is slightly less than the diameter of the socket 6 toenable it to rock therein, and for the purpose of illustration thedifference in diameter may be of an inch or thereabonts. but this is notmaterial to the invention, broadly considered. The die B projects abovethe anvil and is formed with a recess or socket 16 in its upper end inwhich is secured a die insert 11. The die insert 11 is secured in thebody portion 12 of the die by a driving fit and is preferably made ofhigh speed steel, tungsten or other high grade steel and the bodyportion is preferably made of chrome-nickel steel although it is to beunderstood that I do not desire to limit myself to the particularmaterials mentioned, as the entire die may be formed in a single pieceof metal, but inasmuch as the upper end of the die is sub jected to theintense heat of the hot stock from which the valve is made, it Wearsaway more rapidly than the other parts of the body, and for this reasonit is preferable to employ a separate piece of material for that part ofthe die which is subjected to the direct influence of the materialoperated upon.

The die B has a central, vertical hole 14 extending from end to end, andthe upper end of the die is machined to provide a shallow, circularrecess or countersunk portion 13 having the form of the lower side ofthe valve head which is to be formed in the die. It is to be understoodthat when the die B is made of two pieces of material as abovedescribed, the countersunk or recessed part 13 is formed in the dieinsert, and that the upper part of the hole 14 is formed in the dieinsert as at 14. Preferably, the part 14 of the hole is made slightlygreater in diameter than the part 14- to facilitate the removal of thecompleted valve body from the die.

lVhen a die insert becomes worn to such an extent that it is no longerfitted for use, it is removed from the body 12 and is replaced by a newdie insert. In order to fa- V cilitate the removal of the die insert,holes thereby distributing 15 are formed in the body portion 12 of thedie, which holes extend parallel with the central hole 14. The dieinsert is removed from the body by pins or rods which may be inserted inthe holes 15 and driven against the underside of the die insert.

The operation of heading a poppet valve head by the die is as follows:In accordance with the present practice, the stock from which the valveis made and which usually comprises a round bar of steel, is cut intoproper length to form a complete valve. The rod is heated, and one endthereof gathered up and formed into an enlargement or head as is seen indotted lines at 16, in Fig. 1. The remainder of the rod, which forms thevalve stem is seen at 17 The head portion 16 of the stock is thenre-heated to the desired degree of temperature to enable the metal toflow readily under the influences of the hammer strokes, and the stemportion 17 is inserted into the hole 14, 14 of the die. The die isplaced in the anvil and the hammer arm a, is put in motion. It is to beunderstood that the die is handled with a pair of long tongs and thatthe operator grasps the upper portion of the die with the tongs duringthe operation of handling the die and hammering down the head. Theoperator carefully observes the action of the hammer upon the metal, andin case the metal tends to flow toward one edge of the countersink inthe die, as is seen in Fig. 3, the operator rocks the die in a directionto bring that portion of the metal which has flowed toward one side ofthe die, near the center of the hammer die, and consequently brings thatpart of the metal closer to the hammer die, so that upon the succeedingstrokes of the hammer die, the metal is crowded back toward the otherside of the countersink, the metal evenly throughout the entirecountersunk portion of the die, and forming an even and regular shapedhead with very little if any, fin projecting from the margin thereof. InFig.

3, the die is shown as tilted into an exag gerated angle merely for thepurpose of illustration. The tilting of the die is done almostinstantaneously and it may be tilted in any direction so as to cause themetal to be forced into all of the spaces of the countersink in the die.I have found in actual practice that less material can be used to formthe head of the valve in a rockable or tiltable die, because theoperator can handle the die quicker and easier, and thus distribute allof the metal into th countersink of the die without any unnecessary finor waste. Moreover, I am enabled to more than double the capacity,thereby more than double the output by the use of ordinary die. Fromthis it will be seen that in establishments where tens of thousands andmore valves are constructed each day, a saving of one half or more ofthe time of the workman who heads the dies is of great importance and ofgreat value, enabling me to produce valvesat a less cost than has beenattempted heretofore. It will be observed that the die does not swing ona fixed axis but rocks or rolls in any direction on its support, wherebyits point of support is shifted as it is moved about.

More or less variation of the exact details of construction is possiblewithout departing from the spirit of this invention; I desire, 5

therefore, not to limit myself to the exact form of the constructionshown and described, but intend, in the following claims, to point outall of the invention disclosed herein.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A valve heading die comprising a die support and a shaping die formedwith a recess at the top thereof in which the valve head is shaped, saiddie being loosely contained'and rockable in said die support.

2. A valve heading die comprising a die support and a rotative androckable die formed with a central stem receiving hole and a recess atthe top thereof in which the valve head is shaped, said die beingloosely contained and rockably mounted in said die support.

3. A valve heading die comprising a die support having a socket thereinand a rockable die formed with a stem receiving hole and a recess at thetop thereof in which the valve head is shaped, said die being looselyand rockably mounted in the socket of said die support.

4. A valve heading die comprising a die support having a socket thereinformed with a concave bottom portion and a rockable die formed with acentral stem receiving hole llO and a recess at the top thereof in whichthe valve head is shaped, said body having a convex lower end seated onsaid concave bottom portion of the socket and being loosely androck-ably mounted therein.

5. A valve heading die comprising a rockably mounted body portion havinga free universal movement upon its support and formed with a recess inits free end, and a die insert secured in said recess by a driving fit,said die insert being formed with a recess in its upper side in whichthe valve head is shaped, and there being a central hole leading downfrom said recess.

6. A valve heading die comprising a rockably mounted body portion formedwith a recess in its free end, and a die insert secured in said recessby a driving fit, said die insert being formed with a recess in itsupper side, in which the valve head is shaped, and there being a centralhole leading down from said recess, and said body being formed withother holes parallel with said first mentioned hole through which pinsmay be in serted for ejecting the die insert from the body portion.

7. Valve heading die mechanism comprising a hammer die, and a lower,rockable valve heading die cooperating therewith, said tiltable diebeing loosely and rockably mounted, whereby it may be manually tilted atWill relative to the hammer die.

GEORGE E. RICH.

